Crusaders against the "Red Menace" at home and abroad undermined the Democratic Party by charging that both the party and its platform were "soft on communism," thereby playing a role in the Republican capture of the White House in 1952. They also discovered that anti-Communism could unite their party and inspire voters. In 1946 they gained control of Congress and prevented FDR's successor, Harry Truman, from expanding the New Deal. Republicans achieved more success in the postwar years. Just as conservatives of both parties had begun to form a solid bulwark against the New Deal, World War II broke out, halting further expansion of the Rooseveltian policies but ensuring the continuation of the Democratic administration. ![]() Although many of his policies expanded programs developed by Republicans during the Progressive Era, appalled right-wingers tried desperately to block his initiatives. ![]() Using the Constitution as a guidebook rather than a bible, FDR revolutionized the presidency, laid the foundations of the welfare state, and introduced Keynesianism to the economy. Roosevelt placed in office a man who embodied all that conservatives despised. More importantly, the 1932 election of Franklin D. It also cost the GOP its reputation and the presidency. Ideological disputes had bitterly divided the Republican Party since the stock market crash of 1929-The Great Depression exposed the weaknesses of Republican "trickle-down" economics and the inflexibility of Herbert Hoover's philosophy and policies. This explains, in part, why they did not gain power until well into the 1960s. In the 1950s and early 1960s, conservatives recognized the benefits of cooperation and joined forces to create a stronger conservative movement, but their lack of practical experience impeded their efforts. Traditionalists, libertarians, anti-Communists, and right-wing politicians worked together when it suited their purposes but remained firmly committed to their individual agendas. This alliance created the potential for a vibrant conservative movement, but the new unity of the various strains of conservatism was tenuous at best. Realizing that they needed each other to achieve power, right-wing politicians and ideologues formed an uneasy alliance based on political expediency. Uniting to form a more effective force, numerous conservative intellectuals, local groups, and journalists worked together to promote conservatives within the political system. The battle could not have been won, however, without the assistance of right-wingers outside the party structure. ![]() The Republican Party, plagued by philosophical, geographical, and socioeconomic differences among its members, struggled through an identity crisis in the late 1950s and early 1960s that eventually shifted power internally from liberals to conservatives.
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